India has no such emergency protocols. Anti-pollution laws remain widely ignored and unenforced. Its fledgling air quality index covers only a few cities with a patchy network of monitors that often don’t work.

New Delhi has earned the dubious distinction of being the world’s most polluted major city, surpassing Beijing. While the Chinese capital has made progress in spreading awareness about air pollution, and is taking steps to address it, New Delhi has barely begun to acknowledge the problem.